Living In The Real World
by Drusilla6
Summary: Buffy The Vampire Slayer might all be a dream Buffy the 23 year old normal girl has. Are her friends from her dreams her friends in the real world too?
1. What's Real?

Even though most of the vamps had left town, Buffy still patrolled. Trying to portray some semblance of normalcy. There was nothing left in town. Just the big evil. The first, she was sick of the first. She wanted something physical to fight. Something she could put her hands on and touch, preferably while driving a stake through it's unbeating heart. She actually missed the vampires. She was so used to them. They had been around since she was 16. To have them gone was odd. She was built for fighting evil, a tangible evil. Not a big nothing evil that had no corporal form. She wasn't built for that.  
  
She walked home in the surprisingly cool California February night. She walked slowly thinking about The First going over everything she knew about it. Which still wasn't much. There had to be a weak point though. It couldn't take corporal form, it could only look like dead people and Andrew had angered it. Which looking back isn't much of an accomplishment, he annoys everyone. It was something, anger's a very human emotion, it has emotions.  
  
She had fought "unbeatable" foes before and somehow she always won. She always came back and prospered. There just had to be something they didn't see yet. Something that was probably right in front of her but she was blind to it. It would all come together and make sense eventually. But would it be in time?  
  
Buffy was the Slayer. That meant something. She had saved the world dozens of times and only a handful of people really knew about all that she did. Everyone was counting on her, she couldn't let them down. She let out a heavy sigh as she walked up the steps to her home of the past seven years. She unlocked the wooden door and let herself in. A private house could stop vampires but it couldn't stop everything.  
  
Potential Slayers were everywhere, filling up the house. They were the first thing you saw when you came inside. They just looked like teenage girls. But they were so much more. The Potentials were a welcoming sight. To know that there were still so many potentials around, maybe even more in far corners of the world they didn't know about. These girls who didn't even have the full gifts of a Slayer were willing to fight. They knew what their future might be and they embrace it head on. They trained everyday, they learned to fight they learned about demons, they researched. To the rest of the world they were just teenage girls.  
  
Everyone was fast asleep and she tiptoed up the stairs careful not to make a sound. Anything could wake them up. Just the smallest sound would spook them. They were strong but Buffy remembered her first days as a Slayer. She didn't sleep at all and she had full Slayer strength. They didn't have that. They were easily unnerved.  
  
Buffy looked into Willow's room full of more potentials all asleep in their sleeping bags. Pillows and covers everywhere in their makeshift beds. Then she looked into Dawn's room the girls including Dawn were out like a light. Buffy smiled glad that at least for the moment things were peaceful. They were never that way long, especially at night. She was glad for the quiet. With all those teenage girls the house was more noisy then usual. Then she went into her own room, there were girls there too.  
  
She slowly walked past them careful where stepped. Buffy went over to her dresser and opened a drawer taking out a blue tank top and blue pajama pants. She dressed quietly in the dark. Then she slid into bed and pulled the covers up to her chin. Looking around at the potential slayers in the room she wondered not for the first time. Which one would take her place?  
  
Maybe it was the quiet one in the corner who was slightly separated from the group of girls, she was pretty new. Or the one with the long black that all the girls loved to braid. Maybe the girl right next to her bed not even a foot away from her.. Could be Amanda, another Sunnydale girl. That wouldn't be too surprising, the hellmouth mojo and all that. It would actually make sense and she seemed to be almost a natural a the slaying even without slayer powers. It could be any one of the girls in the house. The future Slayer might not even be in the house. Maybe it was one they hadn't gotten to yet. She could just be asleep in her own bed with no idea what the future held for her.  
  
Just maybe it wouldn't be any of them. They might survive all this. They might beat The First, Buffy included and no one would have to take her place. At least not yet. For all Buffy knew she could live another 20 years and they would be too old to be Slayers then. They'd be past the Slayer age and someone who wasn't even born yet would be the next Slayer. These potentials all around her could live a normal life.  
  
Buffy couldn't even remember what a normal life was anymore. It had been so long. These girls still had hope. Hope for a normal future. One without vampires and demons without the word "apocalypse" being a big part of their vocabulary. This whole ordeal could just be a crazy few months in their past, long forgotten. Buffy could give that to them. As long as she was alive.  
  
Simple then all she had to do was stay alive. And she would try anyway she could. This fight was just another graduation. She knew they wouldn't all make it but they all had to fight together to protect the world. But she could make it so they wouldn't have to go through the pain and the loss of what she went through. At least for a little while.  
  
Buffy sighed, too much thinking. She looked around the room one last time then closed her eyes. It had been such a long day she was exhausted. Enough thinking and enough work, she had done enough. Now she needed sleep, even the Slayer needed to get her sleep to fight the big baddies. Slowly Buffy managed to drift off to sleep.  
  
BEEP  
  
BEEP  
  
BEEP  
  
Buffy awoke in a fog. What was that horrible noise? It felt like she had just fallen asleep. She rubbed her eyes as a hand reached across her chest and made the evil noise go away. She blinked her eyes open and stared at the arm. It was masculine, all muscley so it belonged to a man. Buffy was still too much in a fog to compute what was going on.  
  
"Time to wake up sweetie." The owner of the arm said. "It's seven AM, we should get dressed."  
Buffy groaned even though she was Twenty-Three she was still so much of a kid. "Five more minutes?" She begged as she turned to face the man.  
  
"You say that every morning." He said softly kissing her lips. It was Liam her husband, only no one ever called him that. He was known as Angel. After the first time she saw him she thought he looked like an Angel under the moonlight when she was only sixteen. She had written that in her diary and her friend had read it and it had gotten around so ever since then he had been known as Angel.  
  
"I know" Buffy said sitting up and turning to Angel. "And one of these mornings you're gonna give in." He was already getting dressed in his police uniform. He was a Detective at the local police station. She pulled Angel close and kissed his lips.  
  
"Oh don't tempt me. You know there's nothing I'd rather do then stay in bed with you all day."  
  
"Then you should." Buffy pouted.  
  
"Then who will take care of the kids?" Angel asked as he continued getting dressed. They had two kids. They had gotten engaged after High School and Buffy couldn't wait to get married before graduating College. And exactly 9 months after marriage Baby Dawn was born then 19 months later Conner was born.  
  
"Darn you and your logic." Buffy said smiling anyway. He leaned down and kissed her nose and she grinned. The grin then faded.  
  
"What's wrong?"Angel asked.  
  
"I had the dream again." Buffy said her tone turning serious and quiet. Almost as if she didn't want to believe it. "The Slayer dream. I was really hoping they'd go away. The new therapist Dr. Woods isn't helping at all. And now he's become part of it as Principal! Why are they always the Principal? First Doctor Flutie then Doctor Snyder. The Slayer dreams used to be fun now they're just distracting." 


	2. Willow's Downfall then Uprise

"I know Buff." Angel started to say then Buffy gave him a look. She hated when people called her 'Buff' ever since Angel had called her it during a really big fight. She had cried herself to sleep and she never forgot it. "Buffy." Angel amended and Buffy nodded. "You've been having them ever since I met you. And I loved that there was this whole world inside your head and I was glad I was a part of it."  
  
"Leading role." Buffy smiled as a piercing cry shattered the sweet moment.  
  
"Sounds like Conner's awake." Angel said. Buffy gave him a hopeful look. "I'll take care of him while you get dressed."  
  
"You always know the right thing to say." Buffy smiled.  
  
"It's a gift." Angel kissed Buffy one last time before exiting their bedroom. Buffy sighed trying to shake out the thoughts of her dream. They were always so real. Sometimes she even felt sore the next day after a Slayer dream. She had the dream most nights it was rare when it was just a peaceful nothingness. For one whole blissful summer they had just disappeared, in her dreams she had 'died' but she was sucked back in. Buffy stood up and went to her closet and put on a blue blouse and then some jeans with a flower pattern around the ankle. She brushed her hair back into a ponytail and walked out the bedroom door and headed down the hall. A voice stopped her.  
  
"Morning." Buffy turned around and saw Willow, her best friend. Willow had moved in awhile ago because she was on "sabbatical". Basically Willow was jobless and needed a place to stay. Willow had been a pedatric doctor as Sunndale Hospital but got into some trouble when she was found with drugs. One night after too many drugs she had thought that her neighbor Warren was a killer and she tried to stab him. Luckily she was stopped in time and realized how bad she was. Willow was now clean after weeks in rehab and was hopeful that she would get her job back.  
  
Willow had just gone through a bad place when her Rock Star boyfriend Oz of "The Dingoes Ate My Baby" had missed their nightly called. He called every full moon because that was when he had proposed months before. No matter where he was on the band tour he made sure to call on midnight of a full moon. One full moon midnight passed and Willow had called his hotel room and a girl from the opening band had answered his phone. Oz had tired to explain saying someone slept something in his drink but Willow didn't believe it.  
  
Willow had declared she was sick of boys and had went out and found herself a girlfriend, Tara. Who also dabbled in drugs fueling Willow's wants. Oz came to visit and tried to win Willow back but Willow insisted she was fine without him. Now Willow was over the drugs and over Tara and she realized she still loved Oz. But she had no way to get in contact with him, he was on tour in Japan and no one believed who she was. She still wore Oz's engagement ring in a necklace around her neck hoping he would come back. Willow tried calling him constantly but never came close to getting through. She left messages with all his relatives and was hopeful that he'd find out she wanted him back.  
  
"How are you?" Buffy asked walking into Willow's room.  
  
"I'm doing ok. I really am. Did I tell you I sent 50 letters to the Dingeos fan club? One of them will have to get through to Oz right?"  
  
"Right."Buffy agreed sitting down next to Willow.  
  
"I want to try to get my job back." Willow declared.  
  
"Will are you sure you're ready? You've only been clean a little while."  
  
"Months Buffy, I'm ok now. I miss my job. I miss being helpful. I worked so hard in med school I want my job back."  
  
"Then you should go for it."  
  
Willow smiled, "Come down with me? Please I need some mental support. Xander too, I need my best friends with me."  
  
"Well I don't know, I have work and everything." Buffy hesitated.  
  
"So does Xander we'll go when you guys get home." Willow smiled looking so hopeful. Buffy could remember the pure innocent Willow from High School days who would have been shocked with druggie Willow. High School Willow had been so hopeful and so in love with Oz. High school Willow wouldn't be able to recognize the Willow of today.  
  
"I'll go." Buffy said. Willow grinned and wrapped her arms around Buffy in a giant hug.  
  
"You are the best friend ever." Willow smiled.  
  
"I know, I know." Buffy said. "You really have come a long way Will. I think everything will be ok."  
  
"Job wise you mean." Willow said quietly, the look of joy gone from her face. "I don't know if Oz will ever forgive me. He broke my heart but I didn't have to break his. He loved me so much Buffy and I just turned him away."  
  
"I know you love him too. I'm sure he'll realize that. It was all a big misunderstanding. Oz would never cheat on you."  
  
"Not purposely. That evil bitca of death Veruca did something to him. I met her you know, she was like mentally undressing him as I said goodbye. I was worried from the start. Then I heard her answer the phone and it was like all my fears came true. I didn't understand it because the Oz I know is like a loyal puppy dog."  
  
"He never had eyes for anyone but you. I honestly can't see him going for that whoreific slinky singer. She's not his type, you are." Buffy said trying to reassure Willow.  
  
"The old me. I'm different now. I don't even know who the Willow Oz loves is anymore." Willow sighed.  
  
"Everything happens for a reason Willow and if you guys are meant to be then it will happen."  
  
"Buffy?" Angel called down the hall "I could use some help in here."  
  
"Speaking of meant to be, there's your meant to be person. Your soul mate." Willow said sounding all wistful. Buffy gave Willow a hug.  
  
"Will, be happy things are going to turn around for you. They already started, you got a great place to live if I do say so myself and I know Oz loves you and you're gonna get your job back. Now go find a great outfit to wear ok?" Willow nodded and Buffy left the room and headed down the hallway to Conner and Dawn's room.  
  
"Hey Honey." Buffy said walking in. Angel turned around and smiled, baby Conner was in his arms sucking on a baby bottle.  
  
"Mommy!" Dawn said running over and hugging Buffy's legs.  
  
"Morning Dawny" Buffy said leaning down and scooping Dawn up in her arms.  
  
"Daddy said you'd give me breakfast cuz he's feedin Conner."  
  
"That was nice of Daddy." Buffy said flashing Angel a look and he smiled sheepishly.  
  
"Want to say good morning to Willow first? Then I'll make you some nice cereal." Buffy smiled at Dawn as she set her down on the floor.  
  
"Ok!" Dawn said and run as fast as her little two year old legs would take her into Willow's room.  
  
"One of us should learn how to cook."Angel said gently rocking Conner in his arms.  
  
"Cereal's not a full meal?"  
  
"Sorry but I don't think so."  
  
"Darn I'm going to lose the mother of the year award now for sure."  
  
"I got to get to work." Angel said slowly.  
  
"Remember when I was in high school and I'd skip school to visit you." Buffy said smiling as Angel transported Conner into her arms.  
  
"I do and it's not happening." Angel said kissing Buffy's lips softly. "You have to go to work too."  
  
"Not for hours. This house is no fun in the morning."  
  
"Love you." Angel said kissing her cheek  
  
"I love you too Angel." she said as he walked out the door and down the stairs heading off to the police station.  
  
"Cereal?" Dawn said coming back into the room.  
  
"Ok let's go downstairs and make you some breakfast." Buffy said. 


End file.
